Page 75 of Too Lethal to Love

A plump, gray-haired woman sat in an office chair in front of a desk. Two unconscious Diablos lay on the floor on either side of her. Other than the furniture and a laptop, the dimly lit postage-stamp-sized room was empty.

Dr. Sable ran a hand over her spiky hair. “You guys must be the rest of the cavalry.”

Kane removed his helmet. “Are you okay, ma’am?”

Chris helped her rise from the folding chair.

She oscillated on her feet but didn’t crumble. “Yes. I knew they wouldn’t hurt me until they got the information. They think I’m old and weak and would drop from a heart attack if they tortured me, and then they’d have nothing.” She kicked one of the hostiles with the toe of a worn cowboy boot. “This one doesn’t know how to talk properly to his elders. I know Spanish and understood every one of his insults. Asshole.”

Kane bit back a snicker. Dr. Sable and Gran would get along great. “Did they get any data from you?”

“God, no.” She kicked the other fallen Diablo as Kane and Chris escorted her out of the building. “I’m a professional. I’ve been preparing for something like this my whole life. Kind of bummed that it’s over so quickly. It was a rush, although I was glad the one who kept flipping his knife and threatening to cut me left. He scared the crap out of me.”She sighed and stretched her neck. “Although, according to some of the gals in my book club, that blood kink thing is kind of hot.”

Wishing he could unhear that tidbit, Kane led her outside. Nic and Linc would stay at the scene and work with the FBI to secure the Diablos while he and Chris brought Dr. Sable back to headquarters.

As he helped her into the back of the SUV, she sighed and rested her head against the seat. How could the woman relax after being kidnapped by a drug cartel? He waited for some sense of closure, peace, or even the high he loved from reaching a goal to quell the uneasiness churning with the adrenaline in his veins, but the maddening edge wouldn’t abate. “We’re missing something.”

“We’re missing a lot,” Chris said. “It’s been making Scarlett crazy that she can’t figure out how Chavez tracked you and Beth to the safe house. There wasn’t a tracking app on his phone, but it doesn’t mean someone wasn’t feeding him the information from a source we haven’t uncovered yet.”

“We need to find that fucking source.”

Dr. Sable snapped up her head. “Back up, boys. Did you say Chavez? That’s the jerk’s name who kept flipping his knife like a show-off and ordering the others around.”

Kane snapped his head to the back seat. “Are you sure his name was Chavez?”

“Yes. Seems his little brother was arrested, and he wasn’t too happy about it.”

“Brother?” Dread licked up Kane’s spine. “Chavez doesn’t have a…” He slammed his hand onto the dashboard. “Fuck. When Chavez insinuated his brother would kill me, he hadn’t meant someone from his cartel family; he’d meant a biological brother.”

“Chavez’s siblings are supposed to be dead.”

Kane pulled up a photo on his phone of the man they’dapprehended from the second safe house and showed it to Dr. Sable. “Is this the knife-flipper?”

“Almost, but not quite. The idiot looked nearly identical to him, but his face was fuller. And this guy’s creepy black eyes appear the same, but not nearly as scary as the man who held a knife to my throat.”

The piece Kane had been missing slid into place with a sickening click. “Did he say anything else?”

“He told the others to handle me while he went to get his brother out of the hospital so they could get the othercazampulgatogether.”

Beth choked on words that wouldn’t form.

Evangeline’s form vacillated in the doorway like an apparition, her face as white as the choir robes hanging on the rack. Blood as red as holly berries dripped from her bottom lip.

“What happened to?—?”

The question crystallized in Beth’s throat as Evangeline fell face-first into the room. Beth lunged to catch her. Her phone and purse slipped from her hands as she caught Evangeline by the shoulders and crumpled with her to the hardwood.

Organ music pounded in her head as she dragged Evangeline up. “What are you doing here? What happened to your face?”

Evangeline touched a fresh bruise on her cheek as she tugged Beth to the basement door. “You need to come with me.”

“Tell me what’s going on.” Beth pulled herself from Evangeline’s grip and bent to pick up her phone and purse. “You’re scaring me.”

Tears ran down Evangeline’s cheek as she kicked Beth’s belongings under the choir robes. “You need to come. Please.”

“Why?” Beth burrowed her thin heels into the floor so hard they’d surely leave a mark. She opened her mouth to scream for Hudson.

Evangeline slapped a hand over Beth’s lips. “If you don’t come with me, the Diablos will kill me.”

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